Late last year I learned about bobbinwork embroidery, which involves winding a very thick thread or yarn onto the sewing machine bobbin. Squishy yarns don't do very well in many kinds of machine bobbin winders on account of the little metal tab that's meant to push down on the threads and pop up when the bobbin is full. I can wind cotton perle on there alright, but I wouldn't want to try it with all 6 strands of a length of embroidery floss.
You can wind by hand while holding the edge of the bobbin between your fingertips, but that's annoying and your fingertips get in the way and make it go on unevenly. You can slide the bobbin onto the tapered handle of a large paintbrush and spin it around by hand, which is better, but still slow. And both are a recipe for hand cramps if you have to do a lot for a big project. (I haven't done shirring, but I think this all applies to winding elastic thread too.)
You can get hand crank bobbin winders meant for weaving (my mother has one) but they're awfully expensive. But I got an eggbeater drill at an estate sale for 10 bucks earlier this year, and realized it's not that different. It's got a hand crank and a thingy that spins, so surely I could use it for winding bobbins.
I didn't want to attach anything to it permanently, because this is the only drill I own and I need it to still be useable as a drill, so I made a little stand to hold it. I found a post from 2011 in which someone cut down the side knob to be flatter and just clamped that to the table, but mine is missing that knob, and I'd prefer something more upright anyways. And seeing as how there's a follow up post from the next year about the knob coming off, it probably isn't the most secure.
I have no power tools nor garage space, so I did all this in my sewing room with what hand tools I do have. It's not terribly pretty, but it's functional.
I'd recently dismantled a shallow hardwood desk drawer, and I figured the hole where the lock had been would be a good start for the cutouts that cradle the drill. I clamped one end to the table and used my tiny baby hacksaw to cut it through the hole, off centre so as to have one dip shallower than the other.
I wanted the big end of the hole to hold the narrow part of the wooden handle, and the shallow end to hold the metal end of the drill body. I started whittling away one edge of that end to accommodate the "shoulders", but then realized I wouldn't get enough material out that way.
I clamped it back on the table and sawed what I figured was enough off at a right angle.
It turned out to be a bit too deep to hold the drill shoulders, and the curve of the scooped out bit was too shallow and needed deepening.
I have a rasp that's too big and a file that's much too small, and between them I did my best to make the hole fit the end of the drill.
I made the bigger end of the hole a bit wider too, as it didn't quite fit the drill handle.
Then I cut those end bits down to a good height for the drill stand using my bigger hand saw, which is less neat and precise than the little hacksaw.
After that I figured I ought to cut the width down, since there was already a big cut from where the bottom of the desk drawer had been. I just clamped the pieces onto the already clamped piece with a second clamp, and used my big hand saw again.
I cut that edge off both of those.
Then I had to screw both of those bits down to a base, which was one of the pieces I'd just sawed those short pieces off of. I found 4 suitable screws in my stash and used my drill to make pilot holes.
I traced the two short pieces onto the base, marking out the orientations of the cutout ends, and drilled all the way through the base. I clamped one end onto the table so I could drill through the end that was hanging in open air.
At first I thought it was painfully slow, but then I realized I'd been relying on the weight of the drill and not pushing down, and once I started pushing down it was fine and normal.
I held the stand pieces against the traced outlines and marked through the holes with some ink on a little bamboo stick. I taped the length of the rest of the screw onto the drill bit and drilled those.
Not having a bench vise, I clamped them on either side of another piece of board so they'd stand up nicely as I drilled them.
Countersink drill bits sound neat but I haven't got any, so I carved away the top edges of the holes with a utility knife.
I got the screw heads pretty well sunk into the wood, but some edges were still sticking out a little bit.
I don't want screw heads digging into the tabletop, so I glued on a thin scrap of plywood to safely pad the bottom. It was already an ok length to fit in the middle, and I just sliced off one end with the knife and a ruler on a cutting mat. It took a few more cuts than cardboard does, but it's fairly soft plywood.
I clamped that down and let the glue dry.
The rectangle I had cut out of the narrow end was still a few mm too deep to hold the shoulders of the drill, and it was rocking back and fourth, so I built up the sides by glueing a scrap of thick leather on either side of the hollow.
That still wasn't quite high enough to hold it evenly and stop the rocking, so I glued on another layer of slightly less thick leather. After the wood glue dried I trimmed down those edges to go with the angle of the scooped out bit.
I glued on a thin strip of scrap glove leather to each of the 2 levels on that end. Smooth side up, since that side is more grippy on this soft leather.
And a bigger glove scrap on the bigger end.
The wood glue dried pretty quickly and I trimmed off all the overhanging parts with a knife.
Now you can see the stacked up thick leather better.
The drill sat in the cradle pretty snugly at this point, but I needed to tie it down so it wouldn't wiggle around or jump up at all.
I found some appropriate screws and washers in my stash, and cut some more glove leather scraps into 2 long strips with split ends. I punched a hole on the rounded ends.
I drilled more pilot holes and screwed the round ends onto the back with the washers like so. Smooth side down, so the grippy side is touching the drill.
And put the longer screws in the front with the non-threaded portion still protruding from the wood.
I hold the base down to the edge of the table with those 2 big C clamps
and tie the drill in with one regular knot below the screw, and a slipknot above the screw.
Nicely secure while being easy to undo! And if the straps ever break or wear out they'll be easy to replace.
For the bit that holds the bobbins, I found a small piece of dowel and carved down one end. At first I just shaved off 3 sides in a triangle, but the chuck wasn't holding it very evenly, so I carved grooves into the middles too. Should have just cut 3 V shaped grooves in from the start instead of flattening the sides.
I whittled and sanded down the other end to be tapered and narrow enough to fit through a sewing machine bobbin, and this is the one thing I'm displeased with. As you can see in the picture, the tip is a little curved.
I don't know if I did a bad job at carving it, or if the dowel was warped, but the result is that the end wiggles back and fourth by just a couple of millimetres while it's spinning.
It's still perfectly useable, but if it bugs me too much I can try carving it down more. Or make a new one, I have more dowel this size.
It works! Hooray!
All in all I'm very pleased with it. I've been wanting to experiment with bobbinwork embroidery this year, and this will make it easier. I will edit this post with a link once I have a post up about that.
For the second year in a row I am making a video of all my finished projects, as well as the usual blog post. Maybe this year I'll remember to keep the year post folder updated as I go, because my goodness it takes a long time to round up and organize all the pictures.
Lots more information and images in the video than fit into a blog post, but here are all the sewing projects in chronological order.
First a plain black waistcoat. The fronts are textured cotton from the thrift store and lined with cotton sateen from Rick Rack Textiles. The back is linen from my stash.
Lots of machine sewing in this one, at least compared to my more usual waistcoat construction. This was on The Pile for some time so it's good to have finished it.
Next a space waistcoat. I dye painted the cotton fabric back in college and later flicked fabric ink at it and painted stars on. This was also in The Pile for several years.
I added glow in the dark fabric ink to all the light areas, and it looks pretty nice in person when it's charged, but not as impressive as in this longer exposure photo. I also did a running stitch along the edges in glow in the dark thread.
Both the glow ink and glow thread had been sitting unused in my stash for many years, so it was nice to use them.
Then I finished a braided rug. I really must do a blog post about the process!
It's made of thrifted quilting cotton and nearly all the sewing is by hand.
Then I made a brown cotton nightgown. Nothing much to note besides the fact that I used a fitted sheet (missing a big square from each corner) and therefore had to piece one of the sleeves.
I promise I will do a nightgown tutorial someday, though I don't know when because I have a lot of video ideas clamouring for attention! It's overall pretty similar to my shirt construction though.
Made of heavy obi silk in the front and patchworked linen scraps in the back. I like it and I really need more dark brown things to go with it.
Speaking of obi silk, at the beginning of the year I came across an ebay shop where it can be had for incredibly cheap, and after being asked a few questions about it I wrote a very long blog post. As part of that post I wanted to see how much I could get out of a length of fabric, so I cut out a waistcoat, which was this red one.
I wrote a blog post on the construction, which is something I should try to do more often again! It's a lovely fabric and I have absolutely nothing to go with it. I will also probably have to take in the sides and/or back, because I just used my jacket pattern with the sleeves left off and it's looser than a waistcoat should be.
Then I made some caps.
Just plain simple linen caps (except for the turquoise ones, which are cotton) to keep my head warm at home.
This white & turquoise one was the test version, made of fairly lightweight thrifted cotton.
The brown one was the main one I showed in the video, also made of thrifted cotton. I love how these turned out and have been using them more than I expected to.
And then I made another in slightly heavier cotton, because this one had no bib and didn't need to be supported by a waistcoat button. I figured most of the people watching the video would have more use for a non-buttoning apron.
I gave this one to Mama, and she liked the pockets. All 3 have pockets well hidden in the colour blocking seams!
All the fabric is from a thrifted duvet cover with a nice big tree border print. Very comfy and I've worn it a lot.
Then another nightgown, also out of a cotton bedsheet.
And a purple shirt! I dyed this linen over a decade ago and it's just been sitting in my stash, so it's great to finally wear it. I wish I had more of this colour.
It goes very nicely with this cool copper necklace I found at the thrift store.
Then I made 7 emery strawberries, which I filmed for a video. I have not started editing it yet but should definitely finish that sometime this year.
I gave these two as wedding presents.
They're more or less based on historical examples, and are a larger version of the little strawberry that comes attached to a pin cushion.
These are filled with emery sand and are for cleaning rust and gunk off needles. NOT FOR SHARPENING! LOOSE SAND DOES NOT SHARPEN!!!!!
Then I made a mask. Lined pleated cotton square.
Then I made a leaf waistcoat, which as of the time of writing I have not posted publicly yet because I still need to finish editing the video.
Once again it's made of obi silk and I embroidered the veins.
Then I made a leafkerchief to match the lapels. Pretty much the same as what I showed in my leafkerchief tutorial.
Then I got this jelly strainer cone at a yard sale and made a simple cotton bag to line it. I think I might make another sometime with a drawstring, since I had to clip this one to the legs to keep it in place when I later made crabapple jelly.
Then I finished an embroidered monster book from The Pile! I'd started this one impulsively in 2020 I think. I finally finished up the embroidery and bound it, and I hadn't done any bookbinding in years so it's not perfect, but overall I'm quite happy with it.
I really hope it doesn't fall victim to the "too nice to use" mentality, like the box of other small books I made in class 10 years ago and still haven't used...
Then a black silk waistcoat, which was on The Pile for a couple years, but not on purpose. I'd accidentally finished and hemmed the back of a waistcoat that I'd forgotten I meant to fully line, so I cut a new one and the spare back sat around waiting for waistcoat fronts.
Then a shirt in a nice dark brown cotton seersucker I found at the thrift store.
It appears to be the same fabric as this, which is dreadfully expensive, but my piece was only $3.50.
Then I finished another thing from The Pile! A fur trimmed waistcoat I'd technically started many years ago but which needed re-thinking. I've started a blog post on this one but haven't finished it.
The fronts are more obi fabric, though this time it's rayon, and the back is thrifted cotton napkins with a lovely stripe pattern. The same kind as the ones I used for the back of the purple jacket the year before.
The trim is strips from a thrifted vintage fur coat, and I made a hidden button placket.
The main thing I wish I'd done differently is put the ends of the collar further forward, because it's angled back much more sharply than all the extant ones with a similar cut. I will correct the pattern before sewing it up again.
I've complained before about how I've never been able to get collared waistcoats to fit my wonky shoulders, but after a lot of mockups I finally did it! I had to make separate pieces for the left and right sides.
As for non-sewing projects, I made a beading tray.
Just a crappy wooden tray with velveteen glued to it, but very useful for sewing beads and sequins onto things.
I should also mention the bed jacket which I made early in the year and hated. I tried making it quickly without a pattern, but that's just not how I like to work, so it hadn't been done one hour before I tore it up and put it in the scrap basket. It was actually pretty comfortable, but the finishing was sloppy and it looked bad.
I made a necklace, just because I realized I had a lot of crimp beads in my stash and had never tried them before. I don't like how the uneven size and hole placement of the larger beads makes them a bit wonky with the spacer beads, so if I ever need these for something else I will gladly take it apart.
Oh, and I figured out a way to deal with the long dragging sleeves on that wearable ofmd robe mockup which I never wear! I put a button on the shoulder seam intersection and a loop of cord on the underside and can draw hem up out of the way. Alas, that won't really help with the extremely bulky velvet of the actual robe, so it's still on The Pile.
Another minor alteration I did was changing the laces from white to green on the dark green quilted leaf bolero from this video.
I just braided 3 different colours of cotton embroidery floss together, and it looks so much better.
Before I made the stencils for the aprons I did a wee little leaf one for practice.
I also cut a stencil to fill out the background of this coffin lino block print I carved in 2016.
Despite having had it for so long I've never used it for a project, but someday I must make a waistcoat to go with this shovel brooch.
I also carved a monster.
And I painted the bases of these sconce lamps, but alas did not redo the shades as I intended.
I painted a filing cabinet! It was $10 at an estate sale and I painted it teal and gold.
My motivation was just that it was really rusty on the bottom, but I figured as long as I was taking the trouble to sand and paint it I may as well make it fancy, so I made a stencil and added flowers to the drawers. It's a little blurry in places, but it was my first time using stencils with spray paint so I'm still pretty pleased with it.
I also made a camera bed to go on top of it. I use my camera so often that it's annoying to keep it in the bag, but I don't like setting it down on hard surfaces, so now it has a designated spot.
It's mostly just cardboard with fabric and upholstery trim glued on, and hopefully I will do a blog post on it too.
I also carved a pumpkin for Halloween, which I hadn't done the year before. I have photos of him new and lit up, but my favourite one is this frosty shot of him looking happy in the compost bin over a month later.
I also got 2 more fixer upper vintage sewing machines, so I now have 5 machines total (not counting the serger).
One's a Singer 99k and the other is a "Gimbels" branded Japanese Singer 15 clone. $20 CAD each at a garage sale! I didn't need them, but they needed me.
I have worked a lot on the 99k, and started on the clone, but I'll do blog posts about that in more detail eventually.
Ok, that's all the main things. For the most part I'm happy with each project individually, but my wardrobe as a whole has not improved much. No new pants and no new coats, and those are both things I'm very short on.
Get The Pile down to 5 things at most. I did, I got it down to 5! I finished the fur trimmed waistcoat 10 days before the year ended. This was my top priority goal, just like it was the year before, and I'm really happy with the progress I've made. It was 12 at the beginning of the year, and that was down from 25 at the star of the previous year. (And I added 2 things to The Pile in 2024, so that's 2 more finished Pile things than the decrease number.) Finishing 22 abandoned projects in 2 years is pretty darn good considering how long a lot of them took.
And now I'm going to take the pressure off and let myself focus more on new things this year. I'm sure the Pile Momentum will carry me through at least one or two more garments, but I no longer feel weighed down by the thought of all those unfinished things, so I'm not going to set a specific goal or deadline for it. The last 5 things are all ones with a lot of tedious hand work, some of which are barely started, so they can wait if necessary. (I also wrote a blog post about The Pile.)
Draft a new pants pattern. I did! Right at the end of December, so I haven't sewn it up yet. But I did a basic draft and a mockup and then a finished pattern with a waistband and pockets and such.
It may still need some tweaks after the first time I sew it up for real, but it'll still fit much better than any of my current pants.
Make a new winter coat.
Alas, I did not. I'm still wearing my late Grandpa's slightly too big overcoat. I haven't even drafted the pattern.
Use more stash material. Limit buying new materials. I bought no *new* fabric! I bought quite a bit of secondhand fabric, but it was mostly within the list of rules I wrote for myself. I tried to be more selective about getting things I'm actually likely to use and wear, and to pay attention to how big the pieces are. I didn't buy any secondhand bedsheets because I already have a full box of them that needs using.
I did buy a duvet cover, but that's a different thing and I'd never bought one before and I've already used it, so it's fine.
I did lose my head a little bit the first time I came across that ebay shop right at the beginning of the year, but I recovered my senses after the first couple of orders, and am now much better about being strategic and selective when ordering very cheap secondhand obi silk. Which definitely does count as thrifted. And I'm avoiding looking at the shop for several months at a time, which is the best way to not buy more stuff from it.
My list of rules said that I was allowed to buy new-from-store fabric only if it was for a project that also used stash fabric, but none of the projects needed anything new so I didn't. And I was only really tempted once, by some clearance cottons at Fabricville, so I think I'm getting better at resisting fabric. It's certainly easy not to buy stuff at full price.
Make more nightgowns. I made 2, which is not very many for a whole year. But I also didn't quantify what I meant by "more", and I have more nightgowns than I did before.
Work on more digital prints.
I made zero new repeating patterns in 2024 and had hoped to finish at least 1 in 2025, but alas, I did not. I sketched one out but have not scanned and inked it yet.
Make more time for home decor stuff. I did some, but not as much as I wanted. I finished the braided rug, but 90% of the work on that was done in 2024 so it doesn't really count. I painted the filing cabinet and made the camera bed and necklace holder, but I still haven't framed the stack of Marlowe Lune prints that's been sitting on a stack of frames for over a year. I painted the lamp bases but didn't do the shades. I also acquired a couple more pieces of antique furniture (for very good prices) that need work.
Lovely antique dresser with broken handle and missing some internal support.
Beautiful carved antique chair badly in need of new upholstery.
Not my best, all in all, but I try not to pressure myself too much with these goals. On to this year's.
Goals for 2026
Wardrobe Planning
I've done a lot of wardrobe thinking, but I haven't put it down on paper, or otherwise consolidated it in any organized way. I have some major gaps that need filling, and I keep sewing things that are more fun but that don't go with any other things I have. I still have so so many waistcoats that have no coats to go with them.
Sitting down and doing an actual big wardrobe plan is something I've been meaning to do for years at this point. I want to get swatches of all the colours I like wearing best, and work out which ones are the most versatile based on the combinations I like. And I want to do a whole bunch of sketches of different coats and jackets and such, and
This will be my top priority goal this year, especially since so many of the other things will be made easier by it.
Deal with the Mending Pile
Since I've made so much progress on The project Pile, it's time to turn my attention to the Mending Pile. I put my damaged garments in a big box on top of my filing cabinet and I leave them there and forget about them. I'm not going to pressure myself to get all of them done, especially since I'm sure I'll add things to it, but I would at least like to get it to fit in a smaller box. I also have a number of coats and waistcoats hanging in my closet that need either letting out or donating. Technically I don't think those count, since they're not taking up space in the box, but they are clogging up my closet. I even have some things I wear regularly that could use a bit of mending, even though they aren't in the box.
Dye some Fabric
Speaking of Piles, I also have a big stack of fabric I've been meaning to overdye for years. I have dyed a little bit here and there, but it's a huge to-do that involves weighing & mixing up toxic dye powders outdoors and periodically stirring a vat for over an hour. Dyeing was so much easier when I had access to the dye studio in college, alas!
But once I do my wardrobe planning I'll have a much better ida of what colours I want the most of, and then I can dye multiple pieces at once. I would like to spend a couple days focused on dyeing stash material. There's so much stuff in my stash that I bought because it was nice & secondhand & natural fibres, but a lot of it is colours I don't like to wear.
Draft at least 3 coat patterns
As mentioned, I need more coats. I really, really need more coats. And one of these must of course be for the winter overcoat I still haven't made.
Make Mittens
A small project, but an important one considering I currently only have one pair. I've been meaning to try sewing mittens based on the Diderot pattern for several years, so putting it in this list will hopefully ensure that it happens.
Make More Pants
Now that I have drafted a pants pattern andhave a working serger there should be no impediment to my making more pants. Hopefully the increasingly desperate need for more pants will motivate me.
Machine Repairs
I really want to get my Pfaff 360 unstuck. I've never had a machine that can do zig zag before, and I borrowed a tool from my father months ago to take the snap ring off and still haven't. I also have a small snag-y bit to smooth out on my White VS2, which otherwise runs perfectly. And I would like to get at least one of the 2 garage sale machines up and running and back in a nice clean wooden case.
Ok, I think that's everything for the year. I hope you sewed some stuff you're happy with in 2025, and that your Pile does not grow any bigger this year. (Also a big thank you to my Patrons for helping me pay my bills!)
